How to Access the Old Blogger Interface After the Redesigned Interface Implementation (2011-7-07)

Yes, the Blogger team did come up with their long awaited (well it wasn't that long :D), massive interface update few hours ago which I hope is working nicely for ya all geeks out there. But for me, well I'm having a hard time publishing my posts. After the update was done, I no longer can publish new posts!.

I certainly have no idea about the actual reason but every time and finish writing a post and hit that magical ;-) "publish" button nothing happens. In fact the post gets a "Scheduled" notification message attached to it. I thought "what the heck!" and made sure that I haven't scheduled anything and make sure at the scheduling options area is saved as "Automatic" but still I can't publish a singe post!. Although interestingly enough, if I schedule the post publishing date to a date before the new GUI implementation took place, then the posts get publish (which is certainly not a workaround at all).

But luckily we can easily disable the this new GUI since it's still in the blogger in Draft (where you got the change to taste things at their beta stage, yikes :D) all we have to do is disable the "blogger in Draft" your default blogger interface.

Anyhow, if you're new and think that Blogger platform sucks... let me tell you one thing in all honesty (and humbly). I love blogger!, it's bloody easy to use, pretty solid platform (usually) + filled with services which are absolutely free but as the saying goes "Shi* happens".

And I did look at the blogger help forum but after the new GUI implementation I didn't see any "major" issues so I guess they've done a pretty good job because at the moment it seem to be working quite nicely for the majority (which is the best that we hope to achieve anyway).

So all you gotta do is just log-into your Blogger-in-Draft account and from the upper-right corner uncheck the box that says "Make Blogger in Draft my Default". Then log-out and log-in (not always but you may have to clear the web browser cache) and you're done!.

That should do the trick.

Changing Your Favicon Within the Dashboard is Finally Added to Blogger!

If you haven't heard about what a Favicon is all about, then it's that small icon which appears at the beginning of the URL entering field in your Web browser. Although it is certainly not that important but just like a Logo, a Favicon enables web developers "express" their brand to the users more easily. 


And also some other programs such as Roboform or the bookmark toolbar in your Web browser, etc use these Favicons so afterwards they certainly makes it easier to recognize since you'll always have their "icon" just before the bookmark list as well.

The Official Blogger "Favicon" in Firefox4...

Anyhow, up until today in Blogger adding a Favicon of your own to your Blog thus giving it a unique ... I don't what it's called... giving it something... "cool" look-n-feel perhaps, well it was pretty darn hard. But not anymore. I assure you, it wasn't there few hours ago :D. Few minutes ago suddenly I saw a new option in my Blogger Dashboard that lets us enter a Favicon as easy as adding a site Logo!. 


How to add it?...


*. Pretty simple, log-in to your Blogger account. Then from the the Blogger dashboard (if you have more than one) chose the blog that you want to add a Favicon and then click on "Design" button, as shown below. 

*. Then from the the top of the "Add and Arrange Page Elements" page, you'll see a brand new button/space called "Favicon". Click on the "Edit" button (as shown below) and upload your Favicon to Blogger easily!. 

Oh try to keep the size of the Favicon around 10Kb or lower, otherwise blogger won't let you upload it. After all it's just a Favicon :P. 

Thank you Blogger team for this cool new features.

Blogger Launched the "+1 Button" Feature!, How To Add it To Your Blog?

Would you trust a total stranger's opinions or the one from your friends??, it's usually friends, right?. I think it was Matt Cutts who said something that means exactly that, but from a search engine's point of view:- "search results aren't just about relevancy they're also about preference" when Google first launched their "+1 button" feature few months ago.

What basically happens is that, whenever you search for something in Google (more and more in the future), say about "Ubuntu Tablet" :) then unlike in the past, if one or few of your Google buddies have already recommended it using this "+1 button" feature, then the big G will change their search results listings for you and may/will include the most recommend link using information gathered using the "+1 button which resembles the preference of your friends.

Although Google only has the authority over user preference "gatherings" within their services such as Gmail chat-buddies, etc yet other anonymous "votes" will also be used. They said that they'll be implementing the "+1 button" slowly... as a result, it took almost three months to the blogger team to finally enable it in posts in Blogger platform. 

The "Button" in action!... :)

The "+1 button" is automatically integrated into the usual "Share Buttons" in Blogger posts (usually at the end of your posts, if you haven't manually changed the location). So if you want to make sure it's added by default, then make sure you've enabled the "Share Buttons" in Blogger.

To do that,

1. Log-in to your Blogger Account.

2. Go to your Blog and click "Design".

3. Find your "Blog Post" widget (as shown below), click on the "Edit" button and make sure you've "checked" the "Show Share Buttons". That's how you add 1+ button in Blogger!.

Oh, btw, while you're logged in, when you browse your own posts, the "+1 button" is automatically hidden form you, obviously :).

StatCounter Released a Gorgeous Looking Beta Interface!

When trying to choose a web site traffic analyzer for your blog, etc then I'm pretty sure almost everyone is heard of Google analytics. It's a great service offered by Google and heck it's Free!. But in my honest opinion if you're a newbie to blogging, etc then analytics is not the best and easy to use wet traffic analyzer that you can use.

I mean it has all the features and even more advanced other paid or premium services give you... but in a new user point of view I don't like the default interface. It is really complicated and not that easy to understand. But stat-counter on the other hand is also a free web site traffic analyzer which is very user friendly and has a better way of presenting information for the users (ease to understand).

For instance when it comes to giving daily details such as the keyword and their origin + the destination of the users that come into your site,etc... it does a far better job thanks to its simplicity. Starting with things like graphic bars, text only version (which I love), visitor entering and exit links, literally anything Google's traffic analyzer can do the statcounter can do the same job in a much easy to understand language.

And they've been testing a beta version of the great free application, which is still in the beta stage but now you can try it. And for those of you who've been using it for sometime, will easily notice the re-fabricated 3D looking GUI which is in my opinion is better than the current default one. The colors, menus and their arrangements, icons (which plays a huge role in the user friendless in any software programs) are re-newed.

User-friendly colors!

Better Icon integration when comparing with the "older" GUI 

If you don't have a statcounter account then register for one (link at the end of the post) and if you already have one you can use the same login details to enter the new beta GUI interface. Remember it is still in beta testing so if you don't like this or that, etc then make sure to give your feedback to them also.

Click here for the beta statcounter homepage.

*. This is just a GUI improvement (yet) so you don't have to change your current "script" when switching between the versions.

How to Use GreaseMonkey Addon for adding Emoticons in Blogspot posts!

Well, blogging is a great way to express yourself (without ever having to show your face also ;-) oooh gotta love the internet) so adding emotions within your posts is a great way to get close to your readers as well. And with recent improvements now Wordpress support Emoticons by default but still Google haven't said anything about it. But no need to worry folks if you really gotta have it, you're in luck today my friend. There is actually a way to add Emoticons within your blogspot posts (yupeeeeeee).

Now I assume that you use the Firefox web browser and have already installed it. If so follow the below procedure...

1. Now its time for you to download and install this addon for firefox called the GreaseMonkey (click on the blue text).

2. Then restart your web browser and click here to install the Emoticon script (it's ok, its safe - no kidding here).

That's it. From now on when you use the blogger post editor you'll see a bar of emoticons on the tool section and whenever you want to insert one simply click on the one you want and you're done!.

So that's how you can add emoticons in blogspot posts folks. Hope this did have some value in it. See ya!